With less than two minutes left in the third quarter in Week 18 against Miami, running back Rhamondre Stevenson ripped off a 35-yard sprint, courtesy of a block from recently-revived left tackle Will Campbell. Former Patriot-turned-Dolphin Jack Jones made a late attempt at taking Stevenson down, but he looked like a bug on a windshield as the 227-pound back carried him – with the ball – into the endzone.
It was Stevenson’s third touchdown of the night, and the fourth – but not the last – touchdown from a running back on Sunday.
So yes, it’s safe to say New England’s running game has finally found its footing.
The Patriots entered the night ranked 20th in yards-per-rush attempt and 13th in rushing yards-per-game. As the weather has turned frosty, however, the unit began trending in the right direction. In weeks 15-17, they averaged 5.7 yards-per-rush attempt, (third in the league), and 160 yards-per-game, (fifth).
New England’s regular season finale, a 38-10 thrashing of Miami, featured 233 rushing yards, with 184 of that production coming from the one-two punch of Stevenson and TreVeyon Henderson. The display, against a Miami team that looked feisty in the first half and downright dispirited in the second, was the sort of thunder and lightning combination the Patriots’ front office envisioned last spring. It just took a long, loping journey to get the team there.
Try to remember how the run game looked by the second week of November. Quarterback Drake Maye was lighting up opposing defenses on Sundays, but the ground game was borderline nonexistent. They were averaging just 3.9 yards-per-rush attempt, (25th in the league). It felt like a huge disappointment. Wasn’t Henderson supposed to be this great steal in the second round? Was Stevenson, at an average of $9 million a year, still something beyond a serviceable back – especially considering how he coughed up the ball early in the season?
It’s tempting to point to Henderson’s mid-November breakout as the main catalyst for the unit’s turnaround, (he had two 140-yard+ performances against Tampa Bay and Buffalo between early November and mid-December), but Stevenson deserves just as much credit here. He averaged 6.9 rushing yards through weeks 15-17, and then an absolutely ridiculous 18.7 yards-per-attempt Sunday night. On top of boosting the run game, he’s tallied 131 receiving yards since December 14th’s Buffalo game, and six total touchdowns.
"We felt like we've gotten into a little flow with him and TreVeyon, Rhamondre, and figuring out where that balance was," coach Mike Vrabel said postgame. "They did a great job. We need them both. We need D'Ernest [Johnson]. But, figuring out the balance with Rhamondre and TreVeyon, and those guys both taking advantage of the opportunities that they have - I feel like that's a good flow by Josh [McDaniels] and Tony [Dews] calling the game and getting the guys in there."
Vrabel and his staff named Stevenson the game captain for the week, which meant the team got to watch some of his high school highlights in a meeting Friday. Henderson said the back "got some wiggle" in his teenage days.
"He's been such a greater leader for this running back room. I'm just so grateful to have him by my side," he said postgame.
Big caveat here: the Patriots haven’t exactly been playing the ’86 Bears out there. But the rushing defenses they’re seeing aren’t a bunch of chumps, either: Baltimore is the 11th-stingiest run defense per-attempt, and have been sixth over the last three games, heading into Week 18. Miami looked like a sad sack of fish by 7 p.m. Sunday, but they were giving up just 4 yards-per-attempt heading the three previous games heading into the night.
The Patriots will need the run game to keep showing up if they intend to make noise in the playoffs. Their first opponent, the L.A. Chargers, are nearly in lockstep with the Patriots in a few rushing defense categories, but playing better as of late – while the Patriots started the year historically hot and have just welcomed back Milton Williams after struggling to patch together their own run D while he was on the IR.
And perhaps most importantly of all, as much as a phenom as Maye has been, he’ll need both Stevenson and Henderson to be at their best as he embarks on his first postseason. The Patriots’ offense has been the engine of the team all season. Now, it’s finally showing the balance it sought early in the year.
"You better be able to do that in the tournament," Vrabel added.
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